Systems and methods for altering a progress bar to prevent spoilers in a media asset

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are disclosed for altering or otherwise obscuring a progress bar to prevent spoilers in a media asset. A media asset is generated for display and an input is detected from a user during playback of the media asset. A determination is made whether the input comprises a command to display a progress bar. In the affirmative, a determination regarding a current point of playback of the media asset and the type of segment is made. An entry is retrieved from a database that maps the type of segment to a range of time. A determination is made whether the remaining time of the media asset is within the range of time. In the affirmative, a determination whether displaying the progress bar would spoil the media asset is made. In response to determining that displaying the progress bar would spoil the media asset, the progress bar is refrained from generating display.

BACKGROUND

Media assets are available to users in a myriad of ways, fromtraditional linear programming, to time-shifted and over-the-topcontent. When media is time-shifted or delivered as over-the-topcontent, users are generally provided an ability to view a progress barthat includes information about the user's progress through the media.However, a pervasive problem which exists for viewing such content isthe potential of a spoiler caused by the mere display of the progressbar. For example, a progress bar may contain information, such as anelapsed or remaining time of a media asset which may implicitly, orexplicitly, include information which leads to spoilage of the mediaasset for a user. For example, in a tightly contested sports match witha regulation time of 60 minutes, if the progress bar indicates that therun-time of the match is 90 minutes, then the mere display of therun-time may spoil the fact that the sports match will be played beyondregulation time and will have an overtime segment.

Conventional solutions to avoiding spoilers do not address preventingspoilage from the mere display of a progress bar, and instead generallyrely on manipulating playback of a media asset itself to preventspoilage, or manipulating the media asset itself to remove anycompromising portions or the entirety of the media asset. For example,one conventional solution to avoiding spoilers is to, following a resumecommand received during a fast-forward navigation command, modify theresumption point to occur prior to or after a potential spoiler scene ina media asset. However, these conventional solutions do not provide anyspoilage prevention by altering or otherwise obscuring information froma progress bar itself during viewing of media assets.

SUMMARY

To improve user interaction with the progress bar by maintainingnavigation functionality whilst simultaneously preventing display ofvisual indication causing potential spoilage, systems and methods areprovided herein for altering or otherwise obscuring a progress bar asnecessary to prevent spoilers in a media asset. The techniques disclosedherein allow for a user, by coordinating with the media guidanceapplication, to effectively enhance the user interface functionality toovercome current barriers by coordinating with a media guidanceapplication to selectively determine whether, and when, to alter theprogress bar, or to maintain usual progress bar functionality.

One example of a media guidance application coordinating with a mediaasset to determine whether displaying the progress bar would spoil themedia asset, occurs when the media asset nears the completion of itsplayback. For example, the media guidance application may detect aninput from a user to alter an aspect of the media asset (e.g., scrubforward, rewind, or pause) that necessitates display of the progress baruser interface. The media guidance application detects the user commandinput, and responsively, the media guidance application determines thecurrent point of playback of the media asset. If the current point ofplayback falls within a range of time which is deemed likely to spoilthe media asset, the media guidance application refrains from generatingdisplay of the progress bar upon the command being detected. By themedia guidance application refraining from displaying the progress bar,specific information within the media content which may be displayed onthe progress bar is prevented from “spoiling” the viewing experience ofthe viewer.

Accordingly systems and methods are provided herein for altering orotherwise obscuring a progress bar to prevent the progress bar itselffrom spoiling the viewing experience. In some aspects of the disclosure,the media guidance application may generate for display a media asset.The media guidance application may detect user input during playback ofthe media asset, and may determine a segment of the media asset and thecurrent point of playback within the media asset. The media guidanceapplication may determine the type of segment. Subsequently, the mediaguidance application may retrieve an entry that maps the type of segmentto a range of time from a database. The media guidance application maycompute a remaining time of the media asset by subtracting the currentpoint of playback from a total playback time of the media asset. Themedia guidance application may determine whether the time remaining ofthe media asset is within the range of time. If the media guidanceapplication determines that the time remaining is within the range oftime, the media guidance application further may determine, whetherdisplay of the progress bar would spoil the media asset. The mediaguidance application may refrain generation of displaying the progressbar based on the command, in response to the determination that displayof the progress bar would spoil the media asset.

As a high-level example of how the system may work as a whole, a mediaguidance application may generate for display a recorded hockey game(e.g., recorded on a digital video recorder (DVR)). Following thisexample, early in the hockey game, the media guidance applicationdetects an input from an input device to the media guidance application(e.g., where the input device may be the user's mobile phone running a“remote control” application for the media guidance application) toinitiate a command to pause the hockey game. The media guidanceapplication determines the current point of playback of the hockey game,which has elapsed 15 minutes of a total 140 minutes of recorded time.The media guidance application determines the type of segment where themedia guidance application receives metadata from the media assetindicating that this is an National Hockey League game between the SanJose Sharks and the Los Angeles Kings and the current segment containsno information indicating potential spoilage. The media guidanceapplication interfaces with a database to retrieve a range of time—inthis case, the range of time is 100 minutes (which equates to mid-3^(rd)period of the hockey game). The media guidance application computeswhether the current position exceeds the range of time. In this example,being 15 minutes into the hockey game does not exceed 100 minutes andthus the media guidance application takes no action to refraingeneration of display of the progress bar. The media guidanceapplication provides display of the progress bar such that an elapsedtime display as well as a relative time indicator notch on a horizontalbar indicating the position of the media asset within the completion ofthe pre-recorded media asset is displayed.

Following this example, towards the end of the hockey game when the useris 110 minutes into the media asset, the Los Angeles Kings are leadingby 1 goal with little time remaining in the hockey game. If the mediaguidance application, at this point in time, receives a user command,the comparison of the current position would exceed 100 minutes and asecond determination is made as to whether the progress bar would spoilthe media asset. The media guidance application determines, as discussedpreviously, that a display of the progress bar displaying the remainingtime would spoil the outcome for the user as the user would be able todeduce whether the game finishes in regulation time or gets extendedinto overtime. Thus, upon the user's command to open the progress bar,the media guidance application ensures refraining from generatingdisplay of the progress bar as the elapsed time component is removed andthe indicator notch is absent from the horizontal bar indicating theposition of the media, while the remaining interface remains displayedin order to allow for easy navigation of the user interface.

In some embodiments of the disclosure, the media guidance applicationmay generate for display the media asset. For example, the mediaguidance application may generate for display a National Hockey Leaguehockey game featuring the San Jose Sharks versus the Los Angeles Kings.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect inputfrom a user during playback of the media asset. For example, the mediaguidance application may detect a user, using their mobile phone as aremote control application for the media guidance application tocommanding the hockey game to pause. In response to detection of theuser input, the media guidance application may initiate processes toensure no spoilage of the media asset is displayed to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the input comprises a command to display a progress barindicating progress of the playback of the media asset. For example, inresponse to receiving a command to power off the DVR through the mediaguidance application, the media guidance application may determine thatthe input does not comprise a command to display the progress bar.However, if the received command is to pause the hockey game, the mediaguidance application displays the progress bar. By determination of theuser input comprising a command to display the progress bar, the mediaguidance application can initiate processes to ensure no spoilage of themedia asset is displayed to the user.

In some embodiments, in response to determining that the user inputcomprises the command to display the progress bar, the media guidanceapplication determines the current point of playback of the media asset.For example, the media guidance application determines that the hockeygame has elapsed to 110 minutes. By determination of the elapsed time,the media guidance application utilizes this information for comparisonto a range of time to determine if displaying the progress bar may spoilthe media asset.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine asegment of the media asset comprising the current point of playback. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine the segment of thehockey game comprising the current point of playback (e.g., 110 minutesin). This would indicate that this is 3^(rd) period in the hockey gamenearing completion and the corresponding segment would be the lastsegment of the pre-recorded media asset. By determining the segmentwithin the media asset, different pre-determined priority schemes may beimplemented to determine if displaying the progress bar would spoil themedia asset.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thetype of segment of the media asset. For example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve metadata of the segment. The media guidanceapplication may determine whether the retrieved metadata containsinformation indicative of, for example, the current hockey game is ameaningful hockey game for playoff positioning, and/or whether timeremaining indicates that the game is likely to be extended intoovertime. Responsive to this information contained within the metadata,the media guidance application may determine a type of segment of themedia asset. By determining the type of segment within the media asset,additional information may be utilized to determine if displaying theprogress bar may spoil the media asset.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve, from adatabase, an entry that maps the type of segment to a range of time. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the type ofsegment is a meaningful hockey game for playoff positioning and thecurrent score and time remaining indicates that the game is likely to beextended into overtime. This additional information is retrieved from adatabase and provides for a corresponding range of time (e.g., 130minutes). By determining a specific range of time based on specific typeof segment, a more accurate range of time can be mapped to a type ofsegment within the media asset to determine if displaying the progressbar may spoil the media asset.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may compute aremaining time of the media asset by subtracting the current point ofplayback from a total playback time of the media asset. For example, themedia guidance application may determine the current point of playbackis 135 minutes elapsed and the total playback time of the hockey game is140 minutes. The media guidance application may compute, based on thesevalues, that there are only 5 minutes remaining in the hockey game. Asstated above, by determining a specific range of time based on thespecific type of segment, a more accurate range of time can be mapped toa type of segment within the media asset to determine if displaying theprogress bar may spoil the media asset.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the remaining time of the media asset is within the range oftime. For example, the media guidance application may have retrieved arange of time from the database earlier with a value of 130 minutes. Themedia guidance application may determine that the remaining time in themedia asset is 5 minutes. Therefore, the media guidance application maydetermine that 5 minutes is within the 130 minutes range of time. If themedia guidance application determines that the remaining time was 140minutes, then the media guidance application may go on to determine thatthis value is outside the retrieved range of time.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may furtherdetermine that displaying the progress bar would spoil the media assetin response to determining that the remaining time of the media asset iswithin the range of time. For example, based on the previousinformation, if the media guidance application determines that 5 minutesremain within the hockey game, the media guidance application maydetermine that display of the progress bar would spoil the media assetas the user will know whether overtime is ensuing, or not, based onviewing the length and/or time indicators of the progress bar.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may refrain fromgenerating for display the progress bar based on the command (e.g.,pause) in response to determining that displaying the progress bar wouldspoil the media asset. Continuing from the example above, the mediaguidance application may not display the progress bar as displaying theprogress bar may spoil the media asset with the display allowing theuser to discern the remaining length of the hockey game based on theremaining time indicator and/or visually estimating the time remainingby the indicator notch on the horizontal progress bar. Having the mediaguidance application refraining from generating display of the progressbar based on the command in response to determining that displaying theprogress bar would spoil the media asset, functionality of navigation inthe media guidance application of the user interface is maintained tothe user while prevention of spoilage being displayed.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thetype of segment by retrieving metadata corresponding to the segment froma database. The media guidance application may determine whether themetadata matches a predetermined segment type, and may assign thematching predetermined segment type to the segment. For example, themedia guidance application may retrieve metadata from the hockey gamefrom a database which returns that the hockey game is a playoff game.This information is used to classify the segment as a high prioritysegment. By being able to further classify the type of segment, themedia guidance application may be able to more accurately determine whento refrain from generating display of the progress bar.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may utilize afingerprint of a segment to determine whether the metadata matches thepredetermined segment type. Specifically, the media guidance applicationmay determine a plurality of characteristics of the fingerprint andcompares each characteristic to entries of the database that map a givencharacteristic to a given type. Based on this mapping, the mediaguidance application determines whether a characteristic matches thepredetermined segment type category. Similar to the above example, themedia guidance application may use a fingerprint of the hockey game andcompare the fingerprint to entries from a database to determinecharacteristics of the hockey game. Similarly, by being able to furtherclassify the type of segment, the media guidance application may be ableto more accurately determine when to refrain from generating display ofthe progress bar.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may utilizetranscript information to determine the type of segment. Specifically,the media guidance application may retrieve transcript informationcorresponding to the media asset and determine a portion of thetranscript that corresponds to the segment. The media guidanceapplication may then extract words of the portion that match anycandidate type of a plurality of candidate predetermined segment types.The media guidance application may then determine a candidate type thatmatches a highest amount of the extracted words, and assign thecandidate type to the segment. For example, the media guidanceapplication may use closed captioning information for the hockey game asthe transcript information and extract the closed captioning informationincluding the words “playoffs” and “post-season”, for the specificsegment, and determine a match to a candidate type (e.g., playoffcandidate type). Similarly, by being able to further classify the typeof segment, the media guidance application may be able to moreaccurately determine a range of time to provide a more accurate measureof when to refrain from generating display of the progress bar.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may refrain fromgenerating display of the progress bar by determining a duration of thesegment (based on a start time and a completion time of the segment) andgenerate a progress bar overlay comprising a progress bar indicator forthe duration of the segment. The progress bar indicator visuallydisplays the current point of playback along the progress bar. The mediaguidance application may then determine the position of the progress barwithin the media asset and positions the progress bar overlay in theposition of the progress bar, wherein the progress bar overlay overlapsat least a portion of the progress bar. The media guidance applicationmay generate for display a notification indicating a progress baralteration. For example, during the hockey match, the media guidanceapplication may position a progress bar overlay to completely replacethe position of the conventional progress bar which displays theprogress bar indicator (for the segment only, not the entire playback ofthe hockey game) on a horizontal progress bar without any timeinformation. Additionally, the media guidance application may output apop-up message to the screen that the progress bar has been altered. Byrefraining from generating display of the progress bar based on thecommand in response to determining that displaying the progress barwould spoil the media asset, functionality of navigation of the userinterface is maintained for the user while ensuring prevention ofspoilage from being displayed.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may refrain fromgenerating for display the progress bar by detecting whether theprogress bar includes an elapsed time indicator, and in the affirmative,removing from display of the progress bar the elapsed time indicator forthe media asset. In some further embodiments, the media guidanceapplication further determines the specific type of elapsed timeindicator. Based on a determination of the specific type of the elapsedtime indicator, the media guidance application retrieves a specificremoval action. For example, if the hockey game is close to an overtimeperiod, the media guidance application may refrain from generatingdisplay of a time remaining indicator on the progress bar (e.g., aparticular type of elapsed time indicator) as it may hint at acompletion time which may be a spoiler for a user. As stated above, byrefraining from generating display of aspects of the progress bar basedon the command in response to the media guidance application determiningthat displaying the progress bar would spoil the media asset,functionality of navigation of the user interface is maintained to theuser while ensuring prevention of spoilage from being displayed.

In some embodiments, the progress bar may further comprise an elapsedtime component displaying the remaining time in the media asset. Inthese embodiments, the media guidance application may refrain fromgenerating display of the progress bar by generating for display aprogress bar overlay comprising an altered elapsed time componentdifferent than the elapsed time component of the progress bar andpositioning the progress bar overlay in the position of the progressbar. For example, if the hockey game is an overtime game, the mediaguidance application may replace the current program bar showing elapsedtime with a progress bar overlay which shows the remaining time in themedia asset at the start of the third period with a pre-defined timesuch as 180 minutes (indicating that no time has elapsed from thestart). This time, although incorrect, acts as a placeholder as to notspoil the potential calculation of whether overtime will exist or not.As stated above, by having the media guidance application refrain fromgenerating display of aspects of the progress bar based on the commandin response to determining that displaying the progress bar would spoilthe media asset, functionality of navigation of the user interface ismaintained to the user while ensuring prevention of spoilage from beingdisplayed.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate, fromthe segment of the media asset, a segment start point and segmentcompletion point and determine whether the current point of playback ofthe media asset exceeds the segment completion point. Responsive to themedia guidance application determining that the current point ofplayback of the media asset exceeds the segment completion point, thedisplay of the progress bar may be restored. For example, during thehockey game, if a team scored in overtime which ends the hockey game,the media guidance application may set the completion time to the timethe goal is scored, as no spoilers can occur after this event. In suchcase, the media guidance application may restore the full display of theprogress bar subsequent to the overtime goal being scored. With themedia guidance application restoring the progress bar based on adetermination, functionality of navigation of the user interface ismaintained to the user while ensuring prevention of spoilage from beingdisplayed.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive acommand from the user to override the blocked display of the progressbar. Upon the media guidance application receiving this command, themedia guidance application restores the display of the progress bar. Forexample, during the hockey game, the media guidance application mayreceive a command from a user who wishes to waive the variousembodiments which prevent spoilers as they wish to be able to know howmuch time is left. The media guidance application receives a commandfrom the user which overrides the refrained display of the progress bar,and accordingly, the media guidance application restores full display ofthe progress bar.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The below and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1A shows an illustrative embodiment of a media asset displayed by amedia guidance application prior to a command from a user causingdisplay of the progress bar where the media asset has a first elapsedtime value;

FIG. 1B shows an illustrative embodiment of a media asset displayed by amedia guidance application causing display of the progress bar where thecurrent playback position is outside of a range of time where the mediaasset has a first elapsed time value;

FIG. 1C shows an illustrative embodiment of a media asset displayed by amedia guidance application prior to a command from a user causingdisplay of the progress bar where the media asset has a second elapsedtime value;

FIG. 1D shows an illustrative embodiment of a media asset displayed by amedia guidance application causing display of the progress bar where thecurrent playback position is outside of a range of time where the mediaasset has a second elapsed time value;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide media guidance application listings and other mediaguidance information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 3 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen thatmay be used to provide media guidance application listings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment (UE) device,in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for of altering aprogress bar to prevent spoilers in a media asset, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative flowchart of one variant for a processfor determining the type of the segment, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determiningwhether the metadata matches the predetermined segment type, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative flowchart of another variant for aprocess for determining the type of the segment, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative flowchart of one variant for a processfor refraining from generating display of the progress bar, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 11 depicts an illustrative flowchart of another variant for aprocess for refraining from generating display of the progress bar, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 12 depicts an illustrative flowchart for a process for detectingwhether the progress bar includes an elapsed time indicator, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 13 depicts an illustrative flowchart of yet another variant for aprocess for refraining from generating display of the progress bar, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 14 depicts an illustrative flowchart of one variant for restoringdisplay of the progress bar, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure; and

FIG. 15 depicts an illustrative flowchart of another variant forrestoring display of the progress bar, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are provided herein for altering or otherwiseobscuring a progress bar to prevent spoilers in a media asset. In someimplementations, the media guidance application generates for display amedia asset. The media guidance application detects user input duringplayback of the media asset, and determines a segment of the media assetand the current point of playback within the media asset. The mediaguidance application determines the type of segment. Subsequently, themedia guidance application retrieves an entry that maps the type ofsegment to a range of time from a database. The media guidanceapplication computes a remaining time of the media asset by subtractingthe current point of playback from a total playback time of the mediaasset. The media guidance application determines whether the timeremaining of the media asset is within the range of time. If so, themedia guidance application further determines, whether display of theprogress bar would spoil the media asset. The media guidance applicationrefrains from displaying the progress bar based on the command, inresponse to the determination that display of the progress bar wouldspoil the media asset.

FIG. 1A shows an illustrative embodiment of a media asset displayed by amedia guidance application prior to a command from a user causingdisplay of the progress bar where the media asset has a first elapsedtime value. The media asset 102 being displayed is a hockey game betweenthe San Jose Sharks and the Los Angeles Kings. The televised scoredisplayed at the top of the figure shows that the hockey game is in thesecond period with 2:12 minutes remaining (e.g., first elapsed timevalue) and the score is tied 2-2.

FIG. 1B shows an illustrative embodiment of a media asset displayed by amedia guidance application causing display of the progress bar where thecurrent playback position is outside of a range of time where the mediaasset has a first elapsed time value. FIG. 1B, illustrates the samemedia asset 102 as shown in FIG. 1A with the same broadcast time of 2:12minutes (e.g., first elapsed time value). However, in contrast to FIG.1A, a progress bar 150, is displayed at a low orientation of the displaywith an elapsed time component 120 stated an elapsed time of 72:03minutes. A progress bar may be any visual interface which displays anaction and/or temporal progress of the media asset. An example of aprogress bar is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,847,778, which is titled“MULTIMEDIA VISUAL PROGRESS INDICATION SYSTEM,” the disclosure of whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. In someembodiments, progress bars may be a horizontal bar representing time(e.g., progress bar 150), while in other embodiments, the progress barmay be a series of symbols indicating the temporal incrementation of theprogram. In some embodiments, the progress bar is a time indicator andmay have no bar associated with the progress bar. The media guidanceapplication may also display particular segment time indicators showingthe start of the segment 110 which reads 8:50 minutes and the end of thesegment 130 which reads 11:02 minutes. There is an indicator notch 160as a type of elapsed time indicator shown on the progress bar 150.Finally, a pause function has been initiated 140, which was the commandreceived by the media guidance application causing display of theprogress bar 150. The elapsed time indicator may be for any measurementof time in relation to the media asset. For example, various timeindicators are shown in FIG. 1B including the segment time indicators(shown in FIG. 1B as 110 and 130 respectively), indicator notch (shownin FIG. 1B as 160), and total time elapsed (shown in FIG. 1B as 120). Acommand may be any input from the user which is received by the mediaguidance application. In some embodiments, a command may be in relationto navigation of the media asset (e.g., pause, fast forward, review,skip, seek, jump, record, and other similar functions). In someembodiments, the command may be in relation to functions of the userequipment.

FIG. 1C shows an illustrative embodiment of a media asset displayed by amedia guidance application prior to a command from a user causingdisplay of the progress bar where the media asset has a second elapsedtime value. The media asset 102 being displayed is the same hockey gamebetween the San Jose Sharks and the Los Angeles Kings at a later time.The televised score displayed at the top of the figure shows that thehockey game is in the third period with 2:19 minutes remaining (e.g.,second elapsed time value) and the San Jose Sharks are leading 3-2.

FIG. 1D shows an illustrative embodiment of a media asset displayed by amedia guidance application causing display of the progress bar where thecurrent playback position is outside of a range of time where the mediaasset has a second elapsed time value. FIG. 1D, illustrates the samemedia asset 102 as shown in FIG. 1C with the same broadcast time 180 of2:19 minutes (e.g., second elapsed time value). However, in contrast toFIG. 1C, the progress bar 150, is displayed at a low orientation of thedisplay with no time indicators of any kind upon the pause command whichgenerated display of an altered progress bar. Additionally, in contrastto FIG. 1B, which displayed elapsed time 120, and segment start times110 and segment completion time 130, as well as an indicator notchelapsed time indicator 160; FIG. 1D, has altered the progress bar torefrain from displaying any of these components to prevent spoilage. Theonly visual indicator is a functionality icon for pause 140. Thisprovides for the functionality of navigation of the user interface to bemaintained while ensuring prevention of spoilage from being displayed.

FIGS. 1A-D provide for embodiments which apply user equipment 400, whichmay include control circuitry 404, that executes a media guidanceapplication to display the media asset (e.g., the hockey game betweenthe San Jose Sharks and the Los Angeles Kings). In some embodiments, thecontrol circuitry 404 may be part of a remote server which executes themedia guidance application to display the media asset through remotenetworking between the remote server and the user equipment 400. In someembodiments, the execution of the media guidance application utilizingthe remote server and/or local circuitry may include any combination ofcombined processing, delegation, and/or load sharing between the remoteserver and the user equipment. The functionality of user equipment,control circuitry, and the media guidance application is described infurther detail below with respect to FIGS. 2-5.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay a media asset. The media guidance application generates fordisplay a media asset in response to an input received from a user for aparticular media asset. For example, FIGS. 1A-1D illustrate the mediaguidance application generating for display a hockey game (e.g., mediaasset). In some embodiments, the media guidance application generatesfor display, a media asset in response to receiving a particularselection of a media asset from a user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect an inputfrom a user during playback of the media asset 102. An input may be anyinput which is sent from the user to the media guidance application inrelation to the media asset and/or the operation of the user equipment(e.g., the DVR). The input may be received by the media guidanceapplication from a user device which is connectively coupled to themedia guidance application using one or more communication means knownto one of ordinary skill in the art. In some embodiments, the input mayinclude any function which manipulates the media asset. For example, theinput includes any type of navigation function of the media assetincluding, but not limited to, pause, fast forward, rewind, stop,record, skip, seek, jump to bookmark, jump to chapter, jump to track,and similar navigation functions. In some embodiments, the inputincludes a tagging functionality to tag the media asset as “liked”,“favorite”, “save”, “add to playlist”, “send to friend” (e.g., anythird-party user), and similar tagging functions. In some embodiments,the input may include cursor movement and/or detection of touch on atouchscreen interface on the display 412. For example, if a cursormovement is detected, even if this movement has no functionalityfunction to the media asset, the detected cursor movement is deemed aninput.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the input comprises a command to display a progress barindicating progress of the playback of the media asset 102. For example,if the media guidance application receives a command from a user whichis to pause the media asset, this necessitates the media guidanceapplication displaying the progress bar, as the progress bar provides anacknowledgement to the user of the command, as well as other auxiliaryinformation. In another example, the media guidance application mayreceive a command from a user which is to shut down the user equipment.In response to receiving such a command, the media guidance applicationmay refrain from generating for display the progress bar, as all displayobjects (including the media asset) are terminated. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may pre-program each command withinstruction to display or not display the progress bar upon command froma user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thecurrent point of playback of the media asset 102. In some embodiments,the media guidance application determines the current point of playbackfrom metadata associated with the media asset, specifically thetime-based metadata component of metadata which is associated with thespecific timestamp at the current point of playback. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may implement techniques fortracking elapsed time of a media asset to determine the current point ofplayback. An example of tracking elapsed time in a media asset isdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,847,778, which is titled “MULTIMEDIA VISUALPROGRESS INDICATION SYSTEM,” the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may determine the current point ofplayback from transcript information associated with the media asset(e.g., closed captioning information). Specifically, the media guidanceapplication may use closed captioning information associated with thecurrent point of playback to determine the specific timestamp of thecurrent point of playback.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine asegment of the media asset comprising the current point of playback. Insome embodiments, a segment may be a portion of the media asset 102having a defined time interval. Each media asset may include a number ofseparate segments. Each segment may be determined based on a variety ofcriteria including, but not limited to, type of scene, type ofactor/actress, genre, visual similarities, audio similarities,video/audio tokens, specific scene event (e.g., specific sports play,such as “goal” in hockey), and other distinct characteristics of aportion of a media asset. In some embodiments, a segment may bedetermined as an interval within the media asset. For example, a segmentmay be defined as the last two minutes of a sports match which iscontentious. The determination of the specific interval may includemetadata, crowdsourced user data, data from one or more media contentproviders, and other sources of media assets.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrievemetadata corresponding to the segment from the database and determinewhether the metadata matches a predetermined segment type. In someembodiments, the database includes a plurality of predetermined segmenttypes. The database may be trained with predefined segment types bypreviously determined segment types, pre-defined entries from mediacontent providers, crowdsourced user data, and other sources ofpre-defined data for media assets. If the metadata matches thepredetermined segment type, the media guidance application assigns thematching predetermined segment type to the type of the segment. In someembodiments, a plurality of matching techniques is employed to determinethe best match from a plurality of similar pre-determined segment types.For example, if there are a number of relevant pre-determined segmenttypes retrieved by the database based on query for a particular segment,the database will use pre-defined matching techniques to determine themost relevant pre-determined segment type. In some embodiments, thepre-defined matching technique may employ data such as user media assethistory, aggregate user media asset selection, and other media assetand/or user analytics. For example, a particular predetermined segmenttype within the database may be “contentious playoff game” whichcontains the criteria that the media asset 102 be a sports match whichis close in score. The database returns of number of relevantpredetermined segment types including the “contentious playoff game”type. The media guidance application assigns the matching predeterminedsegment type to the “contentious playoff game” type of segment based onthe highest score of metadata extracted from the segment using one ormore pre-defined matching techniques. In some embodiments, the metadatamay contain any variety of information in relation to the segment of themedia asset including, but not limited to, characters (e.g., playersskating within last 5 minutes), the types of scenes (e.g., recent hockeyplays in last 5 minutes), whether the game is a playoff game, whether amarquee player is injured, the likelihood that a team scores in a thirdperiod, and other similar information. In some embodiments, the metadatamay be a fingerprint obtained from techniques such as image recognition,video frame recognition, machine learning, and other similar techniques.In some embodiments, the database may be accessed by the media guidanceapplication as part as part of the user equipment. In some embodiments,the database may be a third-party database which is communicativelycoupled to the user equipment and accessed by the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receivetranscript information corresponding to the media asset 102 and thendetermines a portion of the transcript information that corresponds tothe segment. The media guidance application, may extract, from theportion, each word of the portion that matches any candidate type of aplurality of candidate predetermined segment types. The media guidanceapplication may then determine, based on the extracted words, acandidate type that matches a highest amount of the extracted words andassigns the candidate type to the type of the segment. Many techniquesknown to one of ordinary skill in the art may be implemented forcalculating matching between the candidate predetermined segment typesto the candidate type. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine, within the closed captioning information (e.g., transcriptinformation) for the hockey game, only the portion of the closedcaptioning information which corresponds to the segment of the mediaasset based on time-data of the closed captioning information. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the extractedwords “playoff” and “post-season” from the portion of the closedcaptioning information from the hockey game match the “playoff gamecandidate type” as the highest amount of extracted words. In someembodiments, transcript information may be closed captioning text. Inother embodiments, transcript information may be one or more subtitletracks. In yet other embodiments, transcript information may be one ormore commentary tracks. In yet other embodiments, transcript informationmay be converted speech-to-text of audio tracks within the media asset,and/or audio tracks in relation to the media asset. In some embodiments,transcript information may be a transcript of a conversation ofspectators.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve, from adatabase, a mapping of the type (of segment) to a range of time. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may perform the mapping bycomparing the type to one or more pre-determined segment types in adatabase having corresponding ranges of time for a plurality of types.In some embodiments, this comparison may be performed by the mediaguidance application accessing a look-up table to match the type to arange of time. In some embodiments, the media guidance application mayaccess the database as part of the user equipment. In some embodiments,the database is a third-party database which is communicatively coupledto the user equipment and accessed by the media guidance application.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may compute aremaining time of the media asset 102 by subtracting the current pointof playback from a total playback time of the media asset. In some mediaassets, the determination of the remaining time is used to determinewhether to alter the progress bar based on events within the mediaasset. For example, if the media asset is a sports match, it is relevantto determine the remaining time to determine whether to obscure theprogress bar to prevent spoilage. The media guidance application maythen subsequently determine whether the remaining time of the mediaasset is within the range of time. In some embodiments, the processingfor these computations is performed by an external processing entitycommunicatively coupled to the user equipment by the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether displaying the progress bar spoils the media asset 102. Thisdetermination may be based on the media guidance application's previousdetermination that the remaining time of the media asset is within therange of time. Thus, in response to the media guidance applicationdetermining that the remaining time of the media asset is within therange of time, the media guidance application may determine thatdisplaying the progress bar will spoil the media asset.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may refrain fromgenerating display of the progress bar based on the received command ofthe user. Refraining from generating display of the progress bar may bedefined as any alteration to the progress bar which alters the visualappearance of the progress bar. In some embodiments, the refraining ofgenerating display of the progress bar may include the media guidanceapplication hiding the entire progress bar, and by extension, allinformation related to the progress bar. In some embodiments, therefraining of generating display of the progress bar may have the mediaguidance application alter the progress bar to remove all timeindicators as to not give the user a sense of remaining time in total,remaining time in the segment, or other potential spoilers based on timeindicators. In some embodiments, the refraining from generating displayof the progress bar may have the media guidance application retainnavigational functionality of the progress bar to allow the user to seevisual confirmation of a navigational command (e.g., pause and playsymbols are shown on the progress bar).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine aduration of the segment based on a start time and a completion time ofthe segment. The media guidance application may then generate fordisplay a progress bar overlay for the duration of the segment and aprogress bar indicator. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may generate the progress bar overlay as the exactdimensions of the progress bar such that the media guidance applicationmay be positioned over the progress bar to replace the progress bar. Themedia guidance application then determines the position of the progressbar within the media asset 102 and positions the progress bar overlay inthe position of the progress bar. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may determine the position of the progress barthrough information in the database. The media guidance application mayoptionally generate for display a notification indicating a progress baralteration. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maygenerate the notification to display as a pop-up message on the displaywith the media asset. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may send the notification to a third-party user devicecommunicatively coupled to the user equipment.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect whetherthe progress bar includes an elapsed time indicator, and if an elapsedtime indicator is detected, the media guidance application may removefrom display of the progress bar the elapsed time indicator for themedia asset 102. The media guidance application may even determine thetype of the elapsed time indicator of the progress bar, and retrieve aremoval action corresponding to the type of the elapsed time indicatorto remove the elapsed time indicator. A removal action may be analtering of the corresponding elapsed time indicator. Specific elapsedtime indicators may have corresponding specific removal actions. In someembodiments, the removal action may be to remove the visual indicationof the elapsed time indicator. In some embodiments, the removal actionmay include removing the time indicator notch. The elapsed timeindicator may be for any measurement of time in relation to the mediaasset. For example, various time indicators are shown in FIG. 1Bincluding the segment time indicators (shown in FIG. 1B as 110 and 130respectively), indicator notch (shown in FIG. 1B as 160), and total timeelapsed (shown in FIG. 1B as 120). FIG. 1D provides a similar scenariowhere the command which displays the progress bar now hides allcorresponding time indicators and solely the navigation function isdisplayed (shown in FIG. 1D as 140).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay a progress bar overlay, the progress bar overlay comprising analtered elapsed time component different than the elapsed time componentof the progress bar. The media guidance application may determine theposition of the progress bar and positions the progress bar overlay inthe position of the progress bar. The media guidance applicationpositions the progress bar overlay such that it overlaps at least aportion of the progress bar. For example, if the media asset is anovertime hockey game, the media guidance application generates aprogress bar overlay containing a pre-defined time such as 180 minutes(indicating that no time has elapsed from the start). This time,although incorrect, acts as a placeholder as to not spoil the potentialcalculation of whether overtime will exist or not. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may not display a time component on theprogress bar overlay. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may display a time component in a static time which does notchange for the duration of the segment and/or until the completion ofthe media asset.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the current point of playback of the media asset 102 exceeds thesegment completion point, and responsive to this determination, themedia guidance application may restore display of the progress bar. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may provide that uponcompletion of the segment, no spoiler prevention rules are implemented.This may be useful for media assets where spoiler prevention is requireduntil a conclusion of an event, however this event is not the completionof the media asset.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application receives an overridecommand from the user to restore the progress bar. For example, themedia guidance application, may receive a command from the usercontaining instruction to display the progress bar for a hockey gamewithout any alteration (e.g., the user may not be concerned with themedia asset 102 being spoiled or not).

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media,applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 2-3 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 2-3 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 2-3 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 2 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 200arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 200 may include grid 202 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 204, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 206, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 202 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 208, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 210. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 210 may be provided inprogram information region 212. Region 212 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 202 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 214, recorded content listing 216, andInternet content listing 218. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 200 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings214, 216, and 218 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 202 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 202. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 220. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 220.)

Display 200 may also include video region 222, and options region 226.Video region 222 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs thatare currently available, will be available, or were available to theuser. The content of video region 222 may correspond to, or beindependent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 202. Griddisplays including a video region are sometimes referred to aspicture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalitiesare described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No.6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794,issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other mediaguidance application display screens of the embodiments describedherein.

Options region 226 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 226 may be part of display 200 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 226 may concern features related to program listings in grid 202or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.Tivo.com, from other media guidance applicationsthe user accesses, from other interactive applications the useraccesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.), and/orobtain information about the user from other sources that the mediaguidance application may access. As a result, a user can be providedwith a unified guidance application experience across the user'sdifferent user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 5. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 3. Video mosaic display 300 includes selectable options 302 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 300, television listings option 304 isselected, thus providing listings 306, 308, 310, and 312 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 300 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 308 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 314 and text portion 316.Media portion 314 and/or text portion 316 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 314 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 300 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 306 islarger than listings 308, 310, and 312), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences.

Various systems and methods for graphically accentuating contentlistings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S. Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009, which is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 4 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 400. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 5.User equipment device 400 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 402. I/O path 402 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 404, which includesprocessing circuitry 406 and storage 408. Control circuitry 404 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 402. I/O path 402 may connect control circuitry 404 (andspecifically processing circuitry 406) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 404 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 406. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 404 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 408). Specifically, control circuitry 404 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 404 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 404 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 404 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 5). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 408 thatis part of control circuitry 404. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 408 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 5, may be used to supplementstorage 408 or instead of storage 408.

Control circuitry 404 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 404 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand down converting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 400. Circuitry 404 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 408 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 400, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 408.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 404 using user inputinterface 410. User input interface 410 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 412 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 400. For example, display 412 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 410may be integrated with or combined with display 412. Display 412 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 412 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 412 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 412.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry404. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 404.Speakers 414 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 400 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 412 may be played throughspeakers 414. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers414.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 400. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage408), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 404 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 408 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 404 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 410. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 410 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 400 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 400. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 404 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 404) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may generate fordisplay the content of the displays locally on equipment device 400.This way, the processing of the instructions is performed remotely bythe server while the resulting displays are provided locally onequipment device 400. Equipment device 400 may receive inputs from theuser via input interface 410 and transmit those inputs to the remoteserver for processing and generating the corresponding displays. Forexample, equipment device 400 may transmit a communication to the remoteserver indicating that an up/down button was selected via inputinterface 410. The remote server may process instructions in accordancewith that input and generate a display of the application correspondingto the input (e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). Thegenerated display is then transmitted to equipment device 400 forpresentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 404). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 404 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 404. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 404. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 400 of FIG. 4 can be implemented in system 500 ofFIG. 5 as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504,wireless user communications device 506, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 4 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, or awireless user communications device 506. For example, user televisionequipment 502 may, like some user computer equipment 504, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 504 may, like some television equipment 502, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 504, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 506.

In system 500, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 5 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 502, user computer equipment 504, wireless user communicationsdevice 506) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.Tivo.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 514.Namely, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, andwireless user communications device 506 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 514 via communications paths 508, 510, and 512, respectively.Communications network 514 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 508, 510, and 512 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 512 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 5 it is awireless path and paths 508 and 510 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 508, 510, and 512, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 514.

System 500 includes content source 516 and media guidance data source518 coupled to communications network 514 via communication paths 520and 522, respectively. Paths 520 and 522 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 508, 510,and 512. Communications with the content source 516 and media guidancedata source 518 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 516 and media guidance data source 518, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 516 and media guidance data source 518 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 516 and 518 withuser equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 are shown as throughcommunications network 514, in some embodiments, sources 516 and 518 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 508, 510, and 512.

Content source 516 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 516 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 516 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 516 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 518 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 518may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 518 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 518 mayprovide user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions that entice the user tokeep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one towhich the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 408, and executedby control circuitry 404 of a user equipment device 400. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 404 of user equipment device 400and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 518) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 518), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 518 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices502, 504, and 506 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 500 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 5.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 514.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 516 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 502 and user computer equipment 504may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 506 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 514. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 516 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 518. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and wirelessuser communications device 506. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 504 or wireless usercommunications device 506 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 504. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 514. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 4.

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as aresult of For example, a first action being performed in response to asecond action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to a second action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for altering aprogress bar 150 to prevent spoilers in a media asset 102, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 600, and any of thefollowing processes, may be executed by control circuitry 404 (e.g., ina manner instructed to control circuitry 404 by the media guidanceapplication). Control circuitry 404 may be part of user equipment (e.g.,user equipment 100, which may have any or all of the functionality ofuser television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and/orwireless communications device 506), or of a remote server separatedfrom the user equipment by way of communication network 514, ordistributed over a combination of both.

At 602, control circuitry 404 generates for display (e.g., on a display412), a media asset 102 from media content source 516. The mediaguidance application generates, by processing circuitry 406, for displaya media asset in response to an input received from a user for aparticular media asset. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates the mediaguidance application generating for display a hockey game (e.g., mediaasset).

At 604, control circuitry 404 detects input from a user during playbackof the media asset 102 (e.g., from user input interface 410). Forexample, the media guidance application detects a navigation relatedoperation command from a user, such as pausing the hockey game, of thehockey game.

At 606, control circuitry 404 determines whether the input comprises acommand to display, a progress bar 150 indicating progress of theplayback of the media asset 102. For example, the media guidanceapplication detects a pause operation during display of the hockey game.The pause operation is preconfigured by the media guidance applicationsuch that the progress bar is displayed during the execution of thepause operation. Hence, the progress bar is displayed in response to theuser input selecting the pause operation.

At 608, control circuitry 404 determines whether the input comprises acommand to display a progress bar 150 indicating progress of theplayback of the media asset 102. If, at 608, control circuitry 404determines “No”, the input does not comprise a command to display aprogress bar indicating progress of the playback of the media asset, theprocess reverts to 606.

If, at 608, control circuitry 404 detects that “Yes”, the inputcomprises a command to display a progress bar 150 indicating progress ofthe playback of the media asset 102, process 608 proceeds to 610. At610, control circuitry 404 determines a current point of playback of themedia asset. For example, the media guidance application determines thatwhen the user pauses the hockey game, the current point of playback isat 75 minutes elapsed from start of the media asset.

At 612, control circuitry 404 determines a segment of the media asset102 comprising the current point of playback. For example, the mediaguidance application determines the type of segment of the hockey gameat 110 minutes elapsed from start of the media asset as the start of thesecond period of the game. The segment has a start and completion timeof the segment which is a subset of the time of the entire asset. Forexample, in this case, the segment has a total time of 10 minutes.

At 614, control circuitry 404 retrieves, from a database, an entry thatmaps the type to a range of time. For example, the media guidanceapplication retrieves from a database that the segment of 10 minutes ofthe hockey game maps to a range of time of 90 minutes elapsed from startof the media asset.

At 616, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,computes a remaining time of the media asset 102 by subtracting thecurrent point of playback from a total playback time of the media asset.For example, the media guidance application calculates the remainingtime of the hockey game by subtracting the 110 minutes current point ofplayback from the total playback time of the media asset (180 minutes).Therefore, the remaining time results in 70 minutes.

At 618, control circuitry 404 determines whether the remaining time ofthe media asset 102 is within the range of time. For example, the mediaguidance application determines that the remaining time, 70 minutes, iswithin the range of the remaining time of 80 minutes.

At 620, control circuitry 404 determines whether the remaining time ofthe media asset 102 is within the range of time. If, at 620, controlcircuitry 404 determines “No”, the remaining time of the media asset isnot within the range of time, the process advances to the end of theprocess.

If, at 620, control circuitry 404 detects that “Yes”, the remaining timeof the media asset 102 is within the range of time, process 620 proceedsto 622. At 622, control circuitry 404, determines whether displaying theprogress bar 150 would spoil the media asset. For example, the mediaguidance application determines that the hockey game has 70 minutesremaining and display of the elapsed time of the progress bar provides aspoiler that the game will not enter overtime.

At 624, control circuitry 404 determines whether displaying the progressbar 150 spoils the media asset 102. If, at 624, control circuitry 404determines “No”, displaying the progress bar 150 does not spoil themedia asset, the process advances to the end of the process.

If, at 624, control circuitry 404 detects that “Yes”, displaying theprogress bar 150 spoils the media asset 102, process 624 proceeds to626. At 626, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,refrains from generating display of the progress bar based on thecommand For example, the media guidance application alters the progressbar for the hockey game such that remaining time, and time markerswithin the segment, are removed from display.

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative flowchart of one variant of a process fordetermining the type of the segment, in accordance with some embodimentsof the disclosure. At 702, the media guidance application, implementedby control circuitry 404, retrieves metadata corresponding to thesegment from the database (e.g., media guidance data source 518). Forexample, the media guidance application receives metadata from adatabase for the specific 10 minute segment of the hockey game, the 10minute segment containing the current point of playback. The metadatacontains any type of information in relation to this specific segmentincluding, but not limited to, whether the game is a playoff game,whether a marquee player is injured, the likelihood that a team scoresin a third period, and other similar information.

At 704, control circuitry 404 determines whether the metadata matches apredetermined segment type. For example, the media guidance applicationdetermines that the hockey game is a playoff game and thus matches aspecific segment type as to provide more aggressive protections to avoidspoilers. The predetermined segment type for playoff games provides thatthe range of time will correspond accordingly. Therefore, a playoff gamesegment type, with other metadata being equal, will have a larger rangeof time than a regular season segment type, with other metadata beingequal.

At 706, control circuitry 404 determines whether the metadata matches apredetermined segment type. If, at 706, control circuitry 404 determines“No”, the metadata does not match a predetermined segment type, theprocess advances to 614.

If, at 706, control circuitry 404 detects that “Yes”, the metadatamatches a predetermined segment type, process 706 proceeds to 708. At708, control circuitry 404 assigns the matching predetermined segmenttype to the type of the segment. Continuing from the previous example,the media guidance application matches the 10 minute segment based onthe metadata to a “playoff” type of predetermined segment type, andassigns this playoff segment type to the type of segment.

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determiningwhether the metadata matches the predetermined segment type, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. At 802, controlcircuitry 404 determines a plurality of characteristics of thefingerprint. For example, the media guidance application uses one ormore techniques to parse the media asset 102 to retrieve one or morecharacteristics as metadata using fingerprint techniques known to a oneof ordinary skill in the art. Using these techniques, the media guidanceapplication retrieves a number of characteristics; for example, acharacteristic of the media asset is that the current hockey game is aplayoff game.

At 804, control circuitry 404 compares each characteristic of theplurality of characteristics to entries of the database (e.g., mediaguidance data source 518) that map a given characteristic to a giventype. For example, the media guidance application maps thecharacteristic of the hockey game being a playoff game, received from toa database, to a spoiler segment type.

At 806, control circuitry 404 determines, based on the comparing,whether a characteristic matches the predetermined segment typecategory. For example, the media guidance application determines thatthe characteristic of the hockey game being a playoff game matches thehigh probability of spoiler segment type (e.g., predetermined segmenttype).

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative flowchart of another variant of a processfor determining the type of the segment, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. At 902, the media guidance application,by control circuitry 404, retrieves transcript information correspondingto the media asset 102 (e.g., from media content source 516). Forexample, the media guidance application uses closed captioninginformation for the hockey game as the transcript information.

At 904, control circuitry 404 determines a portion of the transcriptthat corresponds to the segment. For example, the media guidanceapplication determines, within the closed captioning information for thehockey game, only the portion of the closed captioning information whichcorresponds to the segment of the media asset 102 based on time-data ofthe closed captioning information.

At 906, control circuitry 404 extracts, from the portion, each word ofthe portion that matches any candidate type of a plurality of candidatepredetermined segment types. For example, the media guidance applicationextracts from closed captioning information of the hockey game words inrelation to various predetermined segment types which include the words“playoff”, “post-season”, and “Stanley Cup”.

At 908, control circuitry 404 determines, based on the extracted words,a candidate type that matches a highest amount of the extracted words.For example, the extracted words “playoff”, “post-season”, and “StanleyCup” from the portion of the closed captioning information from thehockey game match the “playoff game candidate type” as the highestamount of extracted words.

At 910, control circuitry 404 assigns the candidate type to the type ofthe segment. For example, the media guidance application, based on theplayoff game candidate type having the highest amount of extractedwords, assigns the playoff game candidate type to the type of segment.

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative flowchart of one variant for a processfor refraining from generating display of the progress bar 150, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.

At 1002, control circuitry 404 determines a duration of the segment, theduration of the segment based on a start time and a completion time ofthe segment. For example, the media guidance application determines aduration of the segment of 7 minutes.

At 1004, control circuitry 404 generates for display a progress baroverlay comprising a progress bar indicator, wherein the progress barindicator visually displays the current point of playback along theprogress bar 150 for the duration of the segment (e.g., on display 412).For example, the media guidance application generates a progress baroverlay, having an indicator notch which indicates the current point ofplayback along the progress bar. This progress bar overlay would existfor the duration of the segment.

At 1006, control circuitry 404 determines the position of the progressbar 150 within the media asset 102. For example, the media guidanceapplication determines that the progress bar has orientationhorizontally positioned at the bottom of the display area.

At 1008, control circuitry 404 positions the progress bar overlay in theposition of the progress bar (e.g., from display 412). The progress baroverlay overlaps the length of the progress bar 150. For example, theprogress bar overlay completely overlaps the previously displayedprogress bar, which in effect replaces the previous progress bar withthe progress bar overlay.

At 1010, control circuitry 404 generates for display a notificationindicating a progress bar alteration. For example, the media guidanceapplication outputs a pop-up message to the screen that the progress bar150 has been altered.

FIG. 11 depicts an illustrative flowchart of another variant for aprocess for refraining from generating display of the progress bar 150,in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. At 1102, themedia guidance application, by control circuitry 404, detects whetherthe progress bar includes an elapsed time indicator (e.g., from display412). For example, the media guidance application determines whether theprogress bar has an elapsed time indicator being visually displayed tothe user for the hockey game.

At 1104, control circuitry 404 determines whether the progress bar 150includes an elapsed time indicator (e.g., from display 412). If, at1104, control circuitry 404 determines “No”, the progress bar does notinclude an elapsed time indicator, the process advances to the end ofthe process.

If, at 1104, control circuitry 404 detects that “Yes”, the progress bar150 includes an elapsed time indicator, the process advances to 1106. At1106, control circuitry 404 removes from display of the progress bar 150the elapsed time indicator for the media asset 102. For example, themedia guidance application displays the progress without the elapsedtime indicator such that the elapsed time does not implicitly/explicitlypresent a spoiler to the user based on the progress bar.

FIG. 12 depicts an illustrative flowchart of another variant for aprocess for refraining from generating display of the progress bar 150,in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. At 1202, controlcircuitry 404 determines the type of the elapsed time indicator of theprogress bar. For example, there may be a number of different elapsedtime indicators including, but not limited to, time based indicators forentire media asset 102, an indicator notch on a horizontal progress bar,among other varieties.

At 1204, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,determines whether the type of the elapsed time indicator of theprogress bar has been determined. If, at 1204, control circuitry 404determines “No”, the type of the elapsed time indicator of the progressbar has not been determined, the process advances to the end of theprocess.

If, at 1204, control circuitry 404 detects that “Yes”, the type of theelapsed time indicator of the progress bar has been determined, theprocess advances to 1206. At 1206, control circuitry 404 retrieves aremoval action corresponding to the type of the elapsed time indicator.For example, the media guidance application determines that the elapsedtime indicator is an indicator notch on a horizontal progress bar, thecorresponding removal action is to remove the indicator notch from thehorizontal progress bar leaving just the horizontal progress bar 150without the indicator notch.

At 1208, the media guidance application, by control circuitry 404,removes from display of the progress bar 150, the elapsed time indicatorfor the media asset 102 based on the corresponding removal action. Forexample, the media guidance application removes the indicator notch fromthe horizontal progress bar.

FIG. 13 depicts an illustrative flowchart of yet another variant for aprocess for refraining from generating display of the progress bar 150,in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. At 1302, controlcircuitry 404 generates for display a progress bar overlay, the progressbar overlay comprising an altered elapsed time component different thanthe elapsed time component of the progress bar (e.g., on display 412).For example, if the hockey game is an overtime game, the media guidanceapplication generates a progress bar overlay containing a pre-definedtime such as 180 minutes (indicating that no time has elapsed from thestart). This time, although incorrect, acts as a placeholder as to notspoil the potential calculation of whether overtime will exist or not.

At 1304, control circuitry 404 determines the position of the progressbar (e.g., on display 412). For example, the media guidance applicationdetermines that the progress bar 150 is orientated horizontally on thelower part of the display.

At 1306, control circuitry 404 positions the progress bar overlay in theposition of the progress bar 150, wherein the progress bar overlayoverlaps at least a portion of the progress bar (e.g., on display 412).For example, the media guidance application positions the progress baroverlay exactly over the position of the progress bar as to appear toreplace the progress bar with the progress bar overlay.

FIG. 14 depicts an illustrative flowchart of one variant for restoringdisplay of the progress bar 150, in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure. At 1402, the media guidance application, by controlcircuitry 404, generates, from the segment of the media asset 102, asegment start point and segment completion point. For example, the mediaguidance application, from the segment, determines that the hockey gameis an overtime match and the start point of the overtime is 12:00minutes (measured from time elapsed since previous media asset segment)and a completion point 15:00 minutes which is when the overtime goal isscored (measured from time since the previous media asset segment).

At 1404, control circuitry 404 determines whether the current point ofplayback of the media asset 102 exceeds the segment completion point.For example, the media guidance application determines the current pointof playback is 15:03 minutes. The current point of playback exceeds thesegment completion point (e.g., 15:00 minutes).

At 1406, control circuitry 404 determines whether the current point ofplayback of the media asset 102 exceeds the segment completion point.If, at 1406, control circuitry 404 determines “No”, the current point ofplayback of the media asset does not exceed the segment completionpoint, process reverts to 1404.

If, at 1406, control circuitry 404 detects that “Yes”, the current pointof playback of the media asset 102 exceeds the segment completion point,the process advances to 1407. At 1407, control circuitry 404 restoresdisplay of the progress bar 150. For example, the media guidanceapplication restores the progress bar for display.

FIG. 15 depicts an illustrative flowchart of another variant forrestoring display of the progress bar 150, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. At 1502, control circuitry 404 receivesan override command from the user (e.g., by user input interface 410).For example, the media guidance application, receives a command from theuser containing instruction to display the progress bar for a hockeygame without any alteration (e.g., the user may not be concerned withthe media asset 102 being spoiled or not).

At 1504, control circuitry 404 determines whether an override commandfrom a user was received. If, at 1504, control circuitry 404 determines“No”, an override command from a user was not received, then the processreverts to 1502.

If, at 1504, control circuitry 404 detects that “Yes”, an overridecommand from a user was received, the process advances to 1506. At 1506,control circuitry 404 restores display of the progress bar 150. Forexample, the media guidance application restores the progress bar forthe hockey game without any alteration.

It should be noted that processes 600-1500 or any step thereof could beperformed on, or provided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS. 1 and4-5. For example, any of processes 600-1000 may be executed by controlcircuitry 404 (FIG. 4) as instructed by control circuitry implemented onuser equipment 502, 504, 506 (FIG. 5), and/or a user equipment devicefor selecting a recommendation. In addition, one or more steps ofprocesses 600-1500 may be incorporated into or combined with one or moresteps of any other process or embodiment.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of each of FIGS. 6-15may be used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition,the steps and descriptions described in relation to FIGS. 6-15 may bedone in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes ofthis disclosure. For example, each of these steps may be performed inany order or in parallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lagor increase the speed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should benoted that any of the devices or equipment discussed in relation toFIGS. 1 and 4-5 could be used to perform one or more of the steps inFIGS. 6-15.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methodsinvolved in the present invention may be embodied in a computer programproduct that includes a computer-usable and/or readable medium. Forexample, such a computer-usable medium may consist of a read-only memorydevice, such as a CD-ROM disk or conventional ROM device, or a randomaccess memory, such as a hard drive device or a computer diskette,having a computer-readable program code stored thereon. It should alsobe understood that methods, techniques, and processes involved in thepresent disclosure may be executed using processing circuitry. Theprocessing circuitry, for instance, may be a general purpose processor,a customized integrated circuit (e.g., an ASIC), or a field-programmablegate array (FPGA) within user equipment 400, media content source 516,or media guidance data source 518. For example, a profile, as describedherein, may be stored in, and retrieved from, storage 408 of FIG. 4, ormedia guidance data source 518 of FIG. 5. Furthermore, processingcircuitry, or a computer program, may update settings of user equipment100 stored within storage 408 of FIG. 4 or media guidance data source518 of FIG. 5.

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and notlimiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of theprocesses discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/orrearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departingfrom the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure ismeant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that follow aremeant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes.Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitationsdescribed in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodimentherein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may becombined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done indifferent orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems andmethods described herein may be performed in real time. It should alsobe noted, the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to,or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

While some portions of this disclosure may make reference to “relatedart” or “convention,” any such reference is merely for the purpose ofproviding context to the invention(s) of the instant disclosure, anddoes not form any admission as to what constitutes the state of the art.

1.-51. (canceled)
 52. A method comprising: detecting an input at atemporal point while a game is generated for display; determiningwhether the input at the temporal point comprises a command to display aprogress bar indicating the temporal progress of the game; and inresponse to the determination that the input at the temporal pointcomprises the command to display the progress bar: determining that theprogress bar indicates that the game includes an overtime portion; andin response to the determination that the progress bar indicates thatthe game includes the overtime portion, refraining from generatingdisplay of the progress bar.
 53. The method of claim 52 wherein thedetermining that the progress bar indicates that the game includes theovertime portion comprises: determining a first time length for thegame, wherein the first time length is a pre-defined regulation time;and determining that the progress bar indicates that the duration of thegame includes a second time length longer than the first time length.54. The method of claim 53 wherein the first time length is determinedbased on type of the game.
 55. The method of claim 52 wherein thedetermining that the progress bar indicates that the game includes theovertime portion comprises: determining a type of the game; retrievingan entry that maps the type of the game to a first time length, whereinthe first time length is a pre-defined regulation time; and computing acurrent time of playback of the game from the progress bar; anddetermining that the current time is longer than the first time length.56. The method of claim 52 further comprising: generating a start timeof the overtime portion of the game; generating a completion time of theovertime portion of the game; determining that a current point ofplayback of the game exceeds the completion time; and in response to thedetermination that the current time of the playback of the game exceedsthe completion time, restoring the display of the progress bar.
 57. Themethod of claim 52 wherein the determining that the progress barindicates that the game includes the overtime portion comprises:detecting that the progress bar includes an elapsed time indicatorindicating remaining time in the game.
 58. The method of claim 57,wherein the refraining from generating display of the progress barfurther comprises: generating for display a progress bar overlay, theprogress bar overlay comprising an altered elapsed time indicatordifferent than the elapsed time indicator of the progress bar;determining the position of the progress bar; and positioning theprogress bar overlay in the position of the progress bar, wherein theprogress bar overlay overlaps at least a portion of the progress bar.59. The method of claim 57 wherein the refraining from generatingdisplay of the progress bar further comprises: generating for display aprogress bar overlay, the progress bar overlay comprising a static timeindicator different than the elapsed time indicator of the progress bar,wherein the static time indicator does not change until completion ofthe game; determining the position of the progress bar; and positioningthe progress bar overlay in the position of the progress bar, whereinthe progress bar overlay overlaps at least a portion of the progressbar.
 60. The method of claim 52 wherein the refraining from generatingdisplay of the progress bar further comprises: generating for display aprogress bar overlay without any time information; determining theposition of the progress bar; and positioning the progress bar overlayin the position of the progress bar, wherein the progress bar overlayoverlaps entire portion of the progress bar.
 61. The method of claim 52further comprising: receiving an override command; in response toreceiving the override command, generating display of the progress bar.62. A system comprising: an input/output (I/O) circuity configured toreceive an input; and a control circuitry communicably coupled to thememory, wherein the control circuitry is configured to: detect thatinput was received via the I/O circuity at a temporal point while a gameis generated for display; determine whether the input at the temporalpoint comprises a command to display a progress bar indicating thetemporal progress of the game; and in response to the determination thatthe input at the temporal point comprises the command to display theprogress bar: determine that the progress bar indicates that the gameincludes an overtime portion; and in response to the determination thatthe progress bar indicates that the game includes the overtime portion,refrain from generating display of the progress bar.
 63. The system ofclaim 62 wherein to determine that the progress bar indicates that thegame includes the overtime portion, the control circuitry is configuredto: determine a first time length for the game, wherein the first timelength is a pre-defined regulation time; and determine that the progressbar indicates that the duration of the game includes a second timelength longer than the first time length.
 64. The system of claim 63wherein the first time length is determined based on type of the game.65. The system of claim 62 wherein to determine that the progress barindicates that the game includes the overtime portion, the controlcircuitry is configured to: determine a type of the game; retrieve anentry that maps the type of the game to a first time length, wherein thefirst time length is a pre-defined regulation time; and compute acurrent time of playback of the game from the progress bar; anddetermine that the current time is longer than the first time length.66. The system of claim 62 wherein to determine that the progress barindicates that the game includes the overtime portion, the controlcircuitry is configured to: generate a start time of the overtimeportion of the game; generate a completion time of the overtime portionof the game; determine that a current point of playback of the gameexceeds the completion time; and in response to the determination thatthe current time of the playback of the game exceeds the completiontime, restoring the display of the progress bar.
 67. The system of claim62 wherein to determine that the progress bar indicates that the gameincludes the overtime portion, the control circuitry is configured to:detect that the progress bar includes an elapsed time indicatorindicating remaining time in the game.
 68. The system of claim 67wherein to refrain from generating display of the progress bar thecontrol circuitry is configured to: generate for display a progress baroverlay, the progress bar overlay comprising an altered elapsed timeindicator different than the elapsed time indicator of the progress bar;determine the position of the progress bar; and position the progressbar overlay in the position of the progress bar, wherein the progressbar overlay overlaps at least a portion of the progress bar.
 69. Thesystem of claim 67 wherein to refrain from generating display of theprogress bar the control circuitry is configured to: generate fordisplay a progress bar overlay, the progress bar overlay comprising astatic time indicator different than the elapsed time indicator of theprogress bar, wherein the static time indicator does not change untilcompletion of the game; determine the position of the progress bar; andposition the progress bar overlay in the position of the progress bar,wherein the progress bar overlay overlaps at least a portion of theprogress bar.
 70. The system of claim 62 wherein to refrain fromgenerating display of the progress bar the control circuitry isconfigured to: generate for display a progress bar overlay without anytime information; determine the position of the progress bar; andposition the progress bar overlay in the position of the progress bar,wherein the progress bar overlay overlaps entire portion of the progressbar.
 71. The system of claim 62 wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to: receive an override command; in response to receiving theoverride command, generate display of the progress bar.